WND EXCLUSIVE

Question about Obamacare's costs not allowed

White House press secretary bypasses 2nd most senior reporter on beat

Published: 04/05/2012 at 10:16 PM

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The White House appears to be pulling back on its comments on Obamacare, after press secretary Jay Carney today declined to even allow a question about the impact of the president’s signature legislation on the nation’s job market.

Just days earlier, Barack Obama sparked a firestorm of arguments by suggesting that the U.S. Supreme Court that is considering the program’s constitutionality would not take the “unprecedented” step – even though it’s happened before – of overturning a law that was adopted by the “democratically elected” Congress. Obamacare notably passed in the U.S. House without any support from Republicans.

Les Kinsolving, WND’s correspondent at the White House and the second-most senior reporter on the beat, behind only Connie Lawn, attended today’s daily news briefing armed with the question, “What is the White House reaction to the chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform’s statement that ‘Companies plan to pay for the health care mandate by shedding workers.’”

He wrote about his committee’s report, “Impact of President Obama’s Health Care Law on Jobs,” which detailed the “negative impact” that Obamacare “has already had and will continue to have on job creation.”

“The reality is that the president’s partisan health care overhaul, passed without any Republican votes, is directly contributing to the nation’s unemployment problem,” Issa wrote. “As regulators busily codify rules, employers are scrambling to figure out how to survive the plethora of mandates and taxes sprinkled throughout the nearly 3,000-page law. And its worst provisions have yet to be enacted.”

He said, “The president’s health care law makes it more expensive to hire people, so businesses will hire fewer people. This is painfully clear for businesses with about 50 workers. Many of these businesses will avoid growing their labor force or cut it under 50 workers to avoid all the new federal rules and penalties.”

“If the president is serious about job creation, he would acknowledge the failure of his health care law and advocate its replacement with market-based solutions that reduce government mandates and lower the cost of health insurance to businesses,” Issa wrote.

Kinsolving also wanted to ask, “What is the White House reaction to publisher and two-time presidential candidate Steve Forbes’ prediction that an Obama re-election will lead to a new recession?”

Forbes told Newsmax that, “If Obama happens to win, I think you’ll see a market selloff. I think we’ll be on the way to another recession. And I think the markets, if they anticipate Obama will win – markets don’t wait for a bad thing to happen, they sell off before it happens.”